New ACC Logo – Full Of Sound And Fury Signifying Nothing

The ACC revealed their new logo today and there are a few things to discuss.

To start off, the ACC was teasing a big announcement for today.

Yet earlier in the month this was making the rounds on Twitter:

So they spoiled their own surprise. Which was pretty underwhelming the first time, much less the second. Well Done Swofford.

On to the logo itself. The ACC’s website has an article about the launching of their new brand. The website still has the old logo. Well Done Swofford.

Apparently a brand new font was created just for this new logo, “set in a custom-designed font created specifically for the league”

Now let’s compare to the Big East logo

The the fonts pretty darn similar, especially at a glance. Theirs has a pointy G, ours has a pointy A. Well Done Swofford.

There is a 19 page brand book that is about as blowhardy as you can get.
Here is their description of the deep, deep symbolism in the new logo.

The new ACC brand identity strongly expresses the essence of the conference – leans hard into a brilliant future, yet honors the successful path that has led us to this day.

A bold underline has been integrated into the composition as a visual representation of the strong foundation the conference is built upon and as an elevating platform for the future. From the conference’s history of championships, to the addition of esteemed new members and our commitment to stability for the long term, our logo is rooted in our heritage – only faster, sleeker and more contemporary.

Sometimes an underline is just an underline, not “a visual representation of the strong foundation the conference is built upon and as an elevating platform for the future”. Well Done Swofford.

If you thought that was bad, it gets worse:

I just don’t even know where to begin with that. Well Done Swofford.

Then there is the 63 page brand standards. The highlight of this has to be what has already been dubbed the equivalent of “do not taunt Happy Fun Ball”

“NEVER invade the approved ACC clear space” (Isn’t that how World War I started? Or something the Romulans did to Captain Kirk?)

And “The ACC logo should NEVER be skewed.” Didn’t say anything about the officiating being skewed. Well Done Swofford.

Feel free to browse though the rest of the buzzwords and business speak that really don’t say very much. It really is impressive how much time and money was wasted on this. Well Done Swofford.

Here’s the NC State version if you care, which you probably don’t:

(If you’re not familiar with Happy Fun Ball you can read up on it here, it is apparently the one video you can’t find on YouTube.)

About WV Wolf

Graduated from NCSU in 1996 with a degree in statistics. Born and inbred in West "By God" Virginia and now live in Raleigh where I spend my time watching the Wolfpack, the Mountaineers and the Carolina Hurricanes as well as making bar graphs for SFN. I'm @wvncsu on the Twitter machine.
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I like it. Its more aggressive. We need to get out of the “good ole boy” mindset because frankly, we were kicked out of that club. We have a nice beginning of a rivalry with Syracuse. I wanted out of the ACC, looks like this is the best I’ll get. Forward.

I’m sure the new logo is fine. I think no matter what, though, it’s just not going to be that impressive because there’s only so much you can do with 3 letters. It’s hard to go, “Wow! I can’t believe they were able to come up with such an awesome representation of 3 letters, 2 of them repeating.” The problem is that everything has to be celebrated and made a big freakin deal of. Just quietly change the logo and let it start being noticed or make a small announcement like it’s not a big deal: “Oh, by the way, we changed the logo.” Then someone might say, “Hey, that’s not too bad.” Once you start offering a grand description, backstory, origin film, whatever, you make a bigger deal than is necessary and turn it into something absurd. Like something you’d expect from a novel about a bureaucratically-controlled, dystopian future or something.

http://www.smebranding.com <—-Although, with offices on 5th Avenue and in London, they may be full of BS but they know how to sell it!

Of note, the rebrand SME did for the America East conference supposedly symbolized the AE as “progressive and forward leaning toward the future”. Meanwhile, the ACC logo is “Set in a custom-designed font created specifically for the league” and “leans hard into a brilliant future”. Hmmmm. Somebody copied and pasted a bit.

My 20yo was looking over my shoulder as I wrote this and said “A logo needs to look cool and be memorable”. That about sums it up. Seriously. I have no doubt that design and marketing impact communication, business, popular culture and decisions people make, or else I wouldn’t have a career. But attributing all that symbolism to the logo is a huge stretch.

From a very practical standpoint, they have created the two-color version with METALLIC SILVER ink. With the increased quality and speed of digital printing, hardly anyone prints with spot colors anymore. So 98% of the time that exciting Silver line becomes Pantone Cool Gray 6. Stunning!

Another Cardinal: The Holy Document of Vatican Law states that a priest, bishop, or cardinal cannot get married, so where are we to get our sex?

Priest Maxi: Uh well then, perhaps we could change the Holy Document of Vatican Law to say that… it’s okay for a priest or bishop or cardinal to have sex… with women. [the prelates protest even louder]

French Cardinal: Women?

Gelgamek Cardinal: The Gelgamek vagina is three feet wide and filled with razor-sharp teeth. Do you really expect us to have sex with them?!

Priest Maxi: Wuh- okay, m-maybe we just need to forget about the Gelgameks for a second and focus-